


Revolution

by 2MusicLover2



Category: Renegades - Marissa Meyer
Genre: Anarchists, Discrimination, High School AU, M/M, Multi, Prequel, Prodigies, Renegades, because it’s the same universe, before the renegades and anarchists, but like not really, discrimination against prodigies, mostly - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-13
Updated: 2020-06-22
Packaged: 2021-03-01 21:07:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,182
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23633575
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/2MusicLover2/pseuds/2MusicLover2
Summary: Before the Anarchists and the Renegades were the greatest of enemies, they were one group working together to bring peace to the world and save prodigies from discrimination. This is the story of how the Renegades were first formed and then how the Anarchists split away from them.
Relationships: Alec Artino | Ace Anarchy & David Artino, Alec Artino | Ace Anarchy & Evander Wade | Blacklight, Alec Artino | Ace Anarchy & Georgia Rawles | Lady Indomitable, Alec Artino | Ace Anarchy & Hugh Everhart | Captain Chromium, Alec Artino | Ace Anarchy & Kasumi Hasegawa | Tsunami, Alec Artino | Ace Anarchy & Simon Westwood | The Dread Warden, Alec Artino | Ace Anarchy & Tamaya Rae | Thunderbird, Alec Artino | Ace Anarchy/Hugh Everhart | Captain Chromium/Simon Westwood | The Dread Warden, Evander Wade | Blacklight & Georgia Rawles | Lady Indomitable, Hugh Everhart | Captain Chromium & Evander Wade | Blacklight, Hugh Everhart | Captain Chromium & Georgia Rawles | Lady Indomitable, Hugh Everhart | Captain Chromium & Kasumi Hasegawa | Tsunami, Hugh Everhart | Captain Chromium & Simon Westwood | The Dread Warden, Hugh Everhart | Captain Chromium & Tamaya Rae | Thunderbird, Hugh Everhart | Captain Chromium/Simon Westwood | The Dread Warden, Kasumi Hasegawa | Tsunami & Evander Wade | Blacklight, Kasumi Hasegawa | Tsunami & Georgia Rawles | Lady Indomitable, Kasumi Hasegawa | Tsunami & Tamaya Rae | Thunderbird, Simon Westwood | The Dread Warden & Evander Wade | Blacklight, Simon Westwood | The Dread Warden & Georgia Rawles | Lady Indomitable, Simon Westwood | The Dread Warden & Kasumi Hasegawa | Tsunami, Simon Westwood | The Dread Warden & Tamaya Rae | Thunderbird, Tamaya Rae | Thunderbird & Evander Wade | Blacklight, Tamaya Rae | Thunderbird & Georgia Rawles | Lady Indomitable
Comments: 6
Kudos: 14





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> I got this idea while reading Supernova (the last book in the series). It was somewhere towards the end that I just started thinking “what if they used to work together” and I just couldn’t get rid of the idea so I decided to write it.
> 
> Because this is written as a sort of prequel to the Renegades series it mostly takes place before the events of the first book. The only spoilers for the actual series will be the end of this book will overlap with the prologue of Renegades, so if you haven’t finished the series then you have nothing to worry about.
> 
> I hope you enjoy!  
> -2MusicLover2

They met on the first day of their tenth grade year at the end of Alec’s first period. He was walking in as Alec was walking out and they ran straight into each other, scattering Alec’s books and papers across the ground.

“Oh! I’m so sorry!” he exclaimed, bending over to start picking of Alec’s things, but they were already flying back into Alec’s arms.

“Don’t worry about it,” Alec said, readjusting the books against his hip.

The other boy stood up, his eyes wide underneath his mop of curly blonde hair. “You… you’re a prodigy too?” he asked, still blocking Alec’s way out of the classroom by standing in the doorway.

“Yes, now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a class to get to,” Alec answered and he successfully pushed past the boy.

They met again that day at lunch.

Alec stood in line to get his lunch, when the boy grinned at him from across the lunch room and walked straight up to him.

“Hi,” the boy said once he was standing directly in front of Alec. “I realized you’re new here and I didn’t get a chance to introduce myself earlier. I’m Hugh Everhart. What’s your name?”

Alec blinked at Hugh for a second before moving forward with the line; Hugh moved with him. “Alec Artino,” Alec said.

“Nice to meet you, Alec,” Hugh said, still smiling despite Alec’s completely emotionless expression. “My friends and I… we’re all prodigies, too. And prodigies gotta stick together. So, would you want to join us for lunch?”

“I guess,” Alec replied, although he hated that Hugh was right. Prodigies shouldn’t have to _stick together_ as if it was necessary for them to survive, and it was necessary most of the time. But there were benefits to this. Alliances could be made. Groups were often safer for survival.

David needed that protection. How could Alec have said no when he had David to protect?

“Perfect!” Hugh exclaimed. “I’ll wait for you to get your lunch then and then we can walk over together.”

Alec nodded his head and continued through the line, all too aware of the eyes on him now that Hugh was at his side. Maybe befriending this group of prodigies _wasn’t_ a good way to protect David. Maybe it would just draw more attention to them. Well, it was too late to change it. What’s done had been done.

“Pizza,” he said to the woman behind the counter when he got there, and she tossed the tray at him, eyeing Hugh standing over his shoulder. So, he’d have to start bringing his own lunch to avoid getting poisoned.

The woman at the register was careful not to touch him as he handed her his money as if he was diseased and would infect her with a simple brush of hands.

“I’m thinking it’ll be easier to just bring my own lunch from now on,” Alec said to Hugh as the weaves through the tables full of students giving them disgusted looks.

Hugh’s smile dropped for the first time as he grimaced. “Probably, yeah,” he answered. “Sorry about that.

“They probably would have found out anyways,” Alec replied.

They finally arrived at a table where the occupants didn’t seem to despise the fact that Hugh and Alec existed and were actually smiling at them. Hugh motioned around the table, introducing everyone.

“Alec, meet Simon Westwood—” a boy with lightly tanned skin and dark hair gave a small, crooked smile and waved “—Kasumi Hasegawa—” she smiled brightly as her hands were busy pulling her sleek black hair behind her head “—Tamaya Rae—” another girl with a bright smile nodded her head at Alec, her black wings resettling themselves behind her back “—Evander Wade—” a tall boy with red hair and the beginnings of a curly red beard lifted his head up from where he was resting it on his arms on the table “—and Georgia Rawles.” Georgia smiled and waved. “Everyone, meet Alec Artino.”

They all talked over each other, different variations of “Nice to meet you, Alec.”

“Sit down,” Hugh said from his seat next to Simon, motioning to the empty seat next to him.

“Do the other grades have lunch at the same time as us?” Alec asked, searching the cafeteria as he sat down.

“It’s just sophomores and seniors right now. Why? Do you know someone in another grade?” Tamaya asked in return.

“My brother, David,” Alec said. “He’s in ninth grade and is also a prodigy. I’m… I’m supposed to protect him.”

Six sympathetic looks turned to him.

“I’m sorry,” Kasumi said, and she sounded like she meant it.

Alec pursed his lips. “It’s fine. Nothing you can do about it.”

“I know, but you shouldn’t have to protect him,” Kasumi replied. “Prodigies shouldn’t have to worry about needing protection. It’s wrong how they treat us.”

“Yes, well,” Alec said. He picked up his pizza, watching in disgust as grease slid off of it and dripped onto his tray. “Can’t really change that, can we?”

Hugh grinned at him. “Actually,” he said. “We want to do something about it. Fight for prodigy rights.”

Alec dropped his pizza back on the tray and leaned forwards to better pay attention. “Okay. I’m listening.”


	2. Chapter 1

Just like that, Alec had been absorbed into their friend group. He didn’t even bother to go home after school that first day; instead he found David and told him to tell their parents he was going over to Simon’s house and then left with Simon without waiting for a response.

They walked in a group together, Alec, Simon, Hugh, Georgia, Kasumi, Tamaya, and Evander, down the crowded sidewalks of the city, trying to avoid attention.

Simon lived in a nice little subdivision—nothing too fancy, yet nothing in shambles or run down either. His house was a pale yellow color, with white window shutters and a grey roof. It was quaint and, Alec thought, perfect.

“Simon, is that you?” a woman’s voice called from somewhere in the house as Simon opened the door and they all stepped inside.

“Yeah,” Simon called back. “Me and my friends.” He then turned to face Alec. “Come on, I wanna introduce you to my mom.”

Alec followed Simon down the short hallway and around a corner to the kitchen where a woman who was undoubtedly Simon’s mother stood at the counter, cutting up strawberries.

“Mom, this is Alec,” Simon said, pulling Alec to the front of the group.

Simon’s mother turned to face them and smiled, gently setting her knife on the counter and scooping the cut up strawberries into a bowl.

“Nice to meet you, Alec! I’m Mrs. Westwood,” she said, and she seemed like she met it. “I’d shake your hand but I’m afraid mine are a bit sticky right now.”

Alec smiled back at her. “‘S no problem, I understand,” he said.

“Oh, very well,” Mrs. Westwood said. “Will you be staying for dinner?”

Alec looked around at his new friends, and upon their insistent nodding, he said, “Sure, that sounds lovely.”

“Come on,” Simon said then, and he motioned for Alec to follow him through a door and down a flight of stairs into the basement.

_Out of place_ was an understatement for how Alec felt once they were all down the stairs, him being the last to step down into the lowest level of the house after trailing after his new friends. They all had their places, Hugh and Simon sprawled across the small couch, Tamaya sitting cross-legged on top of the wooden coffee table, Kasumi and Georgia each claiming stools, and Evander taking up a plush-looking armchair. There was no room for Alec, and for the second time that day, he felt his delight at acquiring friends and allies turn into remorse. _He didn’t belong with them_.

He stood there for a moment, faltering in place, before Hugh and Simon exchanged a look and straightened from their lazy positions, opening up more space on the sofa.

“Come sit,” Hugh said, patting the spot between him and Simon, and relief and belonging flooded through Alec once more. Hugh brought his feet up underneath him and turned himself to face Alec more fully, his back pressed against the arm of the couch. “So, you need a name.”

“I have a name, don’t you remember?” Alec asked with a raised eyebrow, his tone teasing.

Hugh rolled his eyes. “A _superhero_ name, Alec. Something to protect your identity. Something for everyone to know you by.”

“I’m The Dread Warden,” Simon said from Alec’s left, and he huffed out a laugh at the ridiculousness of the name.

“The Dread Warden?” asked Alec skeptically. “What’s so dreadful about you? You’re kind of like a teddy bear, really.”

Simon scrunched up his nose in disgust. “I can assure you, I am _not_ a teddy bear,” he said, which caused everyone in the room to laugh, Hugh harder than the rest.

“Oh, come on, Si,” Hugh said once he had calmed down. “You are too a fluffy little teddy bear.”

“I may seem like a teddy bear now,” Simon said, and there he disappeared, the indents in the cushions the only indication that he was just invisible and not completed gone. “But I am not afraid to bring you a justice so painful that you will never see it coming.”

“Don’t mind him,” Evander said from his armchair. “He’s in that ‘the world is against me’ phase. Dark clothes, dark music, dark thoughts, the whole shebang. You’ll get used to it.”

“I am not,” Simon said, and he flashed back into view and stuck his tongue out at Evander, who stuck his own out in retaliation.

“You say that, but I have yet to see any evidence to prove me wrong,” replied Evander, and Simon rolled his eyes.

“So, what do you want your name to be, Alec?” Simon asked, apparently eager to change the topic.

“Hm, I think I still need some more inspiration,” Alec said. “What are everyone else’s names?”

“What, The Dread Warden isn’t inspiring enough?” Simon questioned, but they all ignored him, his smile betraying his feigned offense.

Kasumi stood up from her stool and offered a hand to Alec to shake. “Tsunami. Pleased to meet you. I trust my name doesn’t require so much explanation as Si’s?”

“Nah, I think I can figure it out,” Alec said with a laugh as he shook Kasumi’s hand. Her grip was much stronger than he would have expected from someone her size.

“I’m Blacklight. Flashy light shows are my specialty,” Evander said. He raised a hand towards the lamp, which changed colors and flickered in demonstration. “Quite useless for anything other than parties, really.”

“Ah yes, because having giant wings protruding from your back isn’t _useless_ or _bothersome_ ,” Tamaya snarled at Evander.

“What’s so useless about wings? You can use them to fly and they look totally badass!” Evander exclaimed. “Not to mention you can literally _create a storm_ whenever you want.”

“And what purpose would I have for creating a storm?”

“Oh, I don’t know, to use the lightning to strike down your enemies? To provide a distraction as you escape? To—”

Tamaya cut Evander off with a glare. “At least you’re all can _hide_ the fact that you’re prodigies! No one will ever be able to see me as _normal_ because it’s so obvious that I’m not!”

“Hey!” Hugh shouted before Evander could respond, attracting everyone’s attention. “Enough fighting. We’re supposed to be welcoming Alec, not scaring him off.”

“Right. Sorry,” Tamaya said. She closed her eyes for a moment and took in a deep breath, composing herself, and then she nodded and opened her eyes again to look at Alec with a smile, but only slightly forced, smile. “I go by Thunderbird. Thunder, storms; bird, wings. Not too convoluted or difficult to understand, I hope.”

“Not at all,” Alec said with a small smile of his own, allowing himself to relax at the joke.

“Unfortunately,” Georgia said then, extending her hand towards Alec, “my name is _not_ so straightforward and connected to what makes me a prodigy. I’m Lady Indomitable. I’m not indestructible, that’s Hugh, but I can fly, so.”

“Well, that’s basically indomitable right there,” Alec replied with a lop-sided grin, his head tilted to the side as he relaxed slightly more and fell back to lounge on the couch rather than sit with the stiff posture he had had previously. He tilted his head to the right and flicked his eyes up towards Hugh, who was silently laughing at the sudden display of laziness and carefreeness. “So, you’re _indestructible_ , are you?”

Hugh rolled his eyes, but continued laughing. “So far, yes. I’ve got a layer of chromium underneath my skin. Nothing can harm me, not even extreme temperatures. I can make whatever I want out of chromium, too.”

“What shall I call you, then? Captain Chromium?” Alec joked.

“No,” Hugh said with another roll of his eyes. “I’m The Chrome Soldier.”

“Hm, I like Captain Chromium better. Nicer ring to it. Alliteration, you know? It does wonders,” said Alec, his grin widening across his entire face.

“Alliteration, huh?” Hugh asked. “What kind of name do you have for yourself, then? Better be a good one; afraid it’ll never be as good as The Chrome Soldier, though.”

“How about…” Alec thought for a moment. Something as important as a name had to be, well, something important. “How about… Ace Anarchy?” he finally suggested.

Kasumi smiled. “I like it,” she said. “Ace is kind of like your name, and anarchy… it’s kind of like what we’re fighting for.”

“Yeah… it is kind of like my name…” Alec muttered.

“Well, Ace Anarchy. Welcome to the Renegades,” Hugh exclaimed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello!
> 
> So, first I would like to just say thank you for reading! This fic is mostly self-indulgent, but I’m glad there are others out there who can also enjoy this!
> 
> Now, I realize that some of the characters may seem a little out of character from what they are in the actual books, but I promise that will change eventually. This fic is about what happened before Renegades to make the characters who they were, so things are going to happen to make them change to become those people. Also, I would like to say that I actually have nothing against any of the characters, their aliases, or their powers. I am only trying to write from the point-of-view of someone who has been persecuted their entire life because of their powers and so some of them show that in different ways (i.e. Evander claiming his powers “useless” and Tamaya being resentful about the visibility of her wings).
> 
> I’ve got so many ideas for this fic, and am excited to get it started. Thank you again for reading! Kudos are always appreciated, and I reply to all comments, I love reading them so much! Please, be sure to subscribe for notifications on when I next update!
> 
> I hope you enjoyed!  
> -2MusicLover2


	3. Chapter 2

“Where have you _been_ , Alec!”

Alec closed his eyes and took in a deep breath when his mother’s hysterics was the first thing he heard upon walking through the front door.

“A friend’s house. I told David to tell you that,” Alec said. He could only hope his calm response would help to alleviate his mother’s worry and calm her down as well.

“David did tell me, but you should know better than to go off to someone’s house without my permission! What if they were only trying to get you alone to hurt you?” his mother asked.

“But they _weren’t_. I’m _fine_ , see?” Alec said.

Mrs. Artino shook her head and fixed her oldest son with a glare. “And how did you know they wouldn’t hurt you, hm?”

“Because they’re all Prodigies, too. There’s a whole group of us in my grade, and I was lucky enough to find them. You know we’re safer in groups,” Alec said.

Mrs. Artino pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes at Alec, hands in fists on her hips and towel in hand as she glared at him for several long moments. Alec refused to back down, however, and stared right back at her in defiance.

Eventually, Mrs. Artino relented.

“I still don’t like it,” she said.

“You don’t have to like it. Either way, I’m not going to stop being friends with them. The school knows I’m a Prodigy by now, I’m not going to just leave them and make myself vulnerable,” Alec replied.

Mrs. Artino huffed out a quick breath of annoyance but said nothing more on the subject. Alec wasn’t about to push it, and rather than saying anything more, he opted to find his brother. He wanted nothing more in that moment than to share everything about his day with David.

He found David in their shared room, sitting at the desk and working on his homework.

“Was it worth it?” David asked without looking up from the assignment he was working on.

Alec bit his cheek and threw his bag onto his bed and flopped down after it.

“Was what worth what?” Alec asked back, just to be difficult. He contemplated the wooden slates of David’s bunk above him and thought that maybe he should decorate them a bit, give himself something nicer to look at.

David turned in his chair and flung a pen at Alec, which missed him completely and bounced off the mattress to land on the floor between the bed and the wall.

“You know what I mean, Alec,” David said with a pout. “Was going to this Simon guy’s house worth upsetting Mom?”

Alec rolled his eyes. His brother could be so stupid sometimes. “It wasn’t like that,” he finally settled on saying after he glared up at the boards for another minute.

“What was it like, then?” David asked.

Alec sat up, his head narrowly missed the bottom of David’s bunk, and he grabbed his bag to start rifling through it. “There’s a whole group of us in my grade. Prodigies. I met them today and they asked me to join them. It’s safer for us, you know? Being together. Wish you could’ve met them, I think you’d like them. Maybe another time. I guess you’re the only Prodigy in the school that’s not officially friends with all of us now.” Alec suddenly looked up at his brother and frowned. “You’re being safe, aren’t you?” he asked.

“Yes, of course,” David replied.

“No one knows you’re a Prodigy?”

“How could they? It’s not like my powers are all that visible to everyone else,” David said.

“I know, but if anyone finds out you and I are related—”

“Alec, stop worrying. Just because you’re a Prodigy, it doesn’t mean I am,” David reasoned.

Alec sighed as he dropped his bag back on the floor, opened up his geometry textbook and flipped to a blank page in his notebook, choosing for a moment to ignore his brother. He can’t completely focus on his work, however, and after a couple of minutes of David staring at him, he slams both the textbook and notebook shut.

“But you _are_ a Prodigy, David, and it’s not even something you can use to protect yourself. I don’t want to be responsible—”

“Well, that’s good, because you’re _not_ responsible. Not for me, not for anything other than yourself,” David interrupted.

“Ugh! You’re so—ugh!” Alec groaned and slammed his fist into the bunk above him, but it didn’t do anything other than make his hand hurt—his physical strength was _not_ something he prided himself on. “I _am_ responsible for you, though! If anything were to happen to you, it would be my fault for not protecting you. Just let me protect you, because I _can_ , and I _need to_.”

Alec’s voice broke on those last two words, and he turned away from his younger brother, silently biting his lip.

“Fine,” David said. “Fine. Have fun _protecting me_.”

Alec had a strong feeling that he was supposed to feel guilty, but he just couldn’t find it in himself to feel any guilt. Not even when he woke up in the middle of the night to get a glass of water and found David sleeping on the couch, too stubborn to share a room with his brother for the night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone, I’m back! Or, at least, I’m slowly coming back! I won’t have a regular updating schedule for a while, just whenever I finish a chapter, so updates will be a bit sporadic. I never discontinue a work though, so it will get finished eventually!
> 
> This chapter was a bit of a filler one to kind of give a bit of insight into Alec’s home life and his relationship with his brother, David, so it’s a bit short, but I hope you still enjoyed it!
> 
> Please, be sure to comment! I enjoy constructive criticism and hearing everyone’s opinions and just receiving comments in general, and I reply to them all!
> 
> Also, please leave kudos, it lets me know that you’ve been enjoying my writing and I appreciate y’all for reading and letting me know what you thought!
> 
> Make sure to subscribe for more, and I hope you enjoyed!  
> -2MusicLover2


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